with #1 cyl cam lobes on base circle/dampener at 15 BTDC or whatever your current initial setting is, at that point is the rotor under or near under the #1 plug wire? and dist magnet fairly even with the reluctor? what is your preload?

I mean no disrespect .. It seems that something had to get longer to hold "all" the valves open .. if the lifters are bled down , they will just pump back up when you run it again. either something got longer or the timing is off some how in my opinion... as much as I hate to admit it I have missed the marks before and I have done hundreds of em .. usually I degree the cam and it would show up then !!

Are you using a single keyway crank gear or the three slot gear?

Cam or crank gear out of position on either their respective shafts due to a machining mishap?

Lifters were boxed wrong and are too tall?

Bought another set of lifters to replace the ones in my engine. Opened one and compared it to the ones in the engine. They were the same size with no external difference. Where the push rod sets was the same as the ones installed. I returned them for a refund but I might get them back and change them anyway. Today I'll try the ones I took the oil out of in #1 cylinder and see how they work on that hole. Crank gear was a single slot gear. If they don't show any change I'll disassemble the engine front and check timing marks. If that is good it comes down to the cam being wrong for the engine and require a replacement to be installed. Hate the thought of that.

Did you degree the cam or just go dot to dot? What cam did you use? If you degreed it, where did you install it at?

What lifters do you have ?? Have you CONFIRMED correct pushrod length?

AMC and Chrysler both use a .904 lifter, the seat height of the lifter is .200 HIGHER in an AMC, if you have AMC lifters ... MANY HP lifters are built now to AMC spec for some reason ??? ... and you have stock Chrysler length pushrods your valves will ALWAYS be open which may be why you THINK the lifters are always pumped up and never bleed down because the lifters are always bottomed out ...

You mention wrong cam maybe?? The only other cam that is going to fit into a BB Chrysler block is a HEMI cam and it has different intake and exhaust positioning, but will be a 3 bolt front instead of a single bolt front, is the cam single or 3?

It should be pretty simple to figure out if the lifters are bottom out by looking at them when the rocker gear is installed.

I always run the engine first before on a run in stand now to break the cam in and look for any leaks that can not be seen easily when it's installed in the engine bay and all the accessories are installed, like one I had on a brand new oil pump from bad machining by Melling ... I think your issue should be easy to see.

To double check cam timing. When #1 is at TDC both lifters on #6 sold be partially open and dead level if the cam is installed straight up. I've had the lifters bottom. As a test grab 5 spark plug washers and stuff them under a rocker shaft. Compression test.
Doug

I have a single bolt on the cam. It was a Comp cam with lifters sent with it. Talked to the guy that did the machine work and he feels it in the lifter as well. He suggests checking lifter preload on 2 exhaust valves on each end of rocker. Also he gave me an idea on how to check the bleed down on the lifter.
I was searching the same issues and see that AMC and Chrysler have a lifter. They didn't mention the AMC is .200 higher which would make all the difference.
Further investigation into the lifters is where I'll look.

With lifters drained of oil toss them back in and install pushrods and rockers. With lobes on base circle, you should be able to push down on the rocker arm and feel the plunger compress.

If you can't, your pushrods are too long.

Did you by some chance get lifters or pushrods for a 67 440??

They changed in 68 and can be used in an older block, but you cannot mix n match the old lifters or pushrods with the newer stuff.

I know WAY out in left field but??????

The chain is 180 off on every other engine revolution. It spins at half crank speed. No loss of compression there or mechanical harm done.

If you installed it upside down it would make the distributor 180 out in relation to the cam. Time the dist and the engine would run just fine.

Ok this is what I found this morning. Messed with the lifters some more. Bleed 2 down stuck them in #1 hole. Compression came up to 75psi but the rocker shaft was lose by .045 to make it work. Not a repeatable way to go. Pulled the front off the engine and looked at the cam/crank timing. It was a 3 slot crank gear. I didn't remember it being that but it was. I had installed the gears as per the instructions on the paperwork that came with the gear set. I pulled the timing gears off and set the #1 cylinder at top dead center. I installed the cam timing gear where it was both lifters closed and compared it for marks. I had put them in 180 degrees by the instructions in the gear set paperwork. Did a compression test with the new configuration and it was 125psi.
So what I have found is the gears were installed correctly as per the instructions but not as per the engine lay out. Misprint? Mis-read? I know it was a couple days of messing around trying to trouble shoot a problem that shouldn't have been.
Ruined 1 lifter messing around with them. Cheap enough at $9.00. Need to reassemble the front of the engine and go for another trial run. Now to get FItech to call me back and sort out hand held programmer problem.
I thank all that gave input to the issue and thoughts of what might have been wrong.

Glad you found it. I think we've all driven ourselves crazy looking for a problem like this when it was mismarked or just plain wrong parts.

"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" - Sherlock Holmes

some timing sprockets have a complicated combo of dots/squares/triangles/ovals etc. the piston will be at TDC when the crank keyway is at 1:30 o'clock (that ain't exact but close). On the crank sprocket the "mark" closest to the center hole ID where the crank snout goes into is supposed to be for locating which keyway to use for adv/ret/straight up and the "mark" closer to the OD near(er) higher up to the tooth root is the one to use for getting it "dot to dot" (& a 3 keyway set with have 3 of those "outer" marks). I've been bit on this before cuz some marks ain't stamped dead on & are misleading and different brands can have a different combo of heiroglyphics. Keep us updated..

True,some are hard to ID what mark matches what corresponding mark.This is where a degree wheel pays off!

I do a lot of my own work but I get a friend when it comes to cam timing.

Always degree a cam. Would of saved you a lot of bs.